January 6, 2011 California High Speed Rail

I was one of those Californians who voted YES for high-speed rail in 2008.  I’m excited about it.  I live in Northern California, but I have many dear friends in San Diego.  Driving down Interstate 5 several times a year gets really boring and frustrating as it gets more and more crowded.  As bad as it is, driving is still better than flying—(a) overall it’s only an hour or so longer, (b) I don’t have to sit in a squished seat next to a stranger who smells bad, (c) I get to bring as much stuff as I want, and (d) I don’t have to do a pole dance for the TSA staff before boarding the plane.

But can you imagine?  Once the bullet train is complete, it will only take 2½ hours to get from Sacramento to San Diego.

Construction on the bullet train is slated to begin September 2012.  It is projected that 150,000 construction jobs will be created and once complete, 450,000 commuter jobs supported.  That will certainly help California’s economy!

Of course, nothing of this magnitude could ever be constructed without controversy: 

1.       There are those who say no one will ride the bullet train because Californians love their cars too much.  Anyone who says this is obviously unaware that in the U.S., train ridership was the highest in history for the first 6 months of 2010 and continues to increase.

2.       There are those who complain that it will cost more than estimated (65 billion vs. 45 billion).  People who say this usually fail to mention that it would cost more to expand the freeway system or the airlines enough to support California’s growing traveling population.

3.       There are those who say it will cost too much for riders to be practical (round trip ticket estimates have increased from $55 to $105 for a trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles).  Well, gas prices are going up and travel in general is getting more expensive.  And time is money.  Business travelers from LA who can get to San Francisco in 2½ hours will be at their meetings faster than those who chose to fly and are still sitting on the tarmac.

4.       There are those that complain that the first segment is a “train to nowhere” and we won’t have the money to finish and so will be stuck with this albatross.  Well, construction has to start somewhere and that particular section was chosen because it’s flat and straight and will be easy to build.  Let’s work the construction bugs out in an easy location and give the engineers time to plan the more difficult locals.

5.       Five hoity-toity towns on the San Francisco peninsula (Menlo Park, Burlingame, Palo Alto, Atherton, and Belmont) are trying to get the bullet train repealed because they don’t like the route through their cities.  I used to live in Palo Alto right next to the train tracks.  Adding another set of tracks to this route will only add 15 feet. 

My message to the critics:  Californians want (and need) a high-speed rail.  It won by a fair vote.  And I’ll be happy to use it once it is complete.